Spring Byington Harry Morgan Frances Rafferty December Bride 1957

''December Bride'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

that aired on the CBS

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid ...

from 1954 to 1959. It was adapted from the original CBS

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many ( simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) t ...

series of the same name that aired from June 1952 through September 1953.

Overview

''December Bride'' centered on the adventures of Lily Ruskin, a spry widow played by

Spring Byington Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of '' December Bride''. She was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player who appeared i ...

. Ruskin was not, in fact, a "December" bride (married late in life) but she very much desired to become one, if the right man were to come along. Aiding Lily in her search for this prospective suitor were her daughter, Ruth Henshaw ( Frances Rafferty), her son-in-law, Matt Henshaw (Dean Miller), and her close friend Hilda Crocker (character actress

Verna Felton Verna Arline Felton (July 20, 1890December 14, 1966) was an American actress, best known for providing many voices in numerous Disney animated films. She also provided the voice for Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law, Pearl Slaghoople in Hanna-Bar ...

). A next-door neighbor, insurance agent Pete Porter ( Harry Morgan), frequently appeared. Married miserably, according to his constant complaints about his unseen wife, Gladys, Pete despised his own mother-in-law and envied Matt's happy relationship with Lily. The pilot episode premiered on October 4, 1954, and involved Lily moving in with her daughter and son-in-law. Most of the series was set in the Henshaws' living room. First-run episodes of ''December Bride'' aired on television for 5 seasons (1954–1959), sponsored by General Foods' Instant Maxwell House Coffee. During the first four seasons, the program was supplanted in the summer months by "summer replacement" series (such as '' Ethel and Albert''), but in its final year,

rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...

s were shown in the same time slot during the summer hiatus. Thanks in part to following '' I Love Lucy'', ''December Bride'' had high ratings its first four seasons – #10 in 1954–1955, #6 in 1955–1956, #5 in 1956–1957 and #9 in 1957–1958. When CBS moved it to Thursdays in the fall of 1958, ratings fell dramatically, and the series was cancelled in 1959. In 1960, a new series titled ''

Pete and Gladys ''Pete and Gladys'' is an American sitcom television series starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams that aired on CBS on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time for two seasons, beginning on September 19, 1960. The last episode was ...

'' debuted, set around many of the same characters. This spinoff series focuses on Pete Porter and his wife, now visible and played by comedian

Cara Williams Cara Williams (born Bernice Kamiat; June 29, 1925 – December 9, 2021) was an American film and television actress. She was best known for her role as Billy's Mother in ''The Defiant Ones'' (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy A ...

. The ''December Bride'' character Hilda Crocker, played by

, appears in 23 episodes of ''Pete and Gladys'', which aired until 1962. After production had ceased, CBS used repeat episodes of ''December Bride'' to fill slots in its prime-time programming. In July 1960, ''December Bride'' repeats filled the second half of the Friday 9 pm Eastern time slot vacated by '' Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse'', running until the beginning of the fall schedule in 1960. The program served as a temporary replacement on Thursday nights in April 1961. ''December Bride'' repeats were shown on CBS as a daytime program from October 1959 until March 1961. The daytime reruns and an attempt to syndicate the show were ratings failures. His experience with ''December Bride'' encouraged CBS executive

Michael Dann Michael Harold Dann (September 11, 1921 – May 27, 2016) was an American television executive. Dann was vice president of programming at CBS from 1963 to 1970, having worked there since leaving NBC in the late 1950s. He took a pragmatic approa ...

's use of " hammocking", framing a weak or new series between two established shows to improve its viewership.

Cast

as Lily Ruskin * Frances Rafferty as Ruth Henshaw *Dean Miller as Matt Henshaw *

as Hilda Crocker * Harry Morgan as Pete Porter

Guest stars

Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, and film and television producer. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom '' I Love Lucy'', in which he c ...

as himself *

Edgar Bergen Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters ...

as himself * Madge Blake as Anita Henderson in "Family Quarrel" (1955) and as Margaret in "The Homecoming Show" (1957) *

Rory Calhoun Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as ''How to Marry a Millio ...

as himself in "Rory Calhoun, the Texan' * Harry Cheshire as Gus in "Lily Ruskin Arrives" (1954) and as Poole in "Big Game Hunter" (1955) * Zsa Zsa Gabor as herself *

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

as himself * Marjorie Main as herself * Lyle Talbot, six episodes in different roles

Ownership

Parke Levy, who created and wrote ''December Bride'', owned 50% of the program, and Desilu and CBS owned 25% each.

Episodes

Crew

DaLonne Cooper was the script supervisor.Fred Sica Says He Was Defending Self in Row. (January 31, 1957). ''Los Angeles Times,'' p. 4.

Notes

References

* Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, '' The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows'' * Dunning, John, ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia Of Old-Time Radio''

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0046592, title=December Bride CBS original programming 1954 American television series debuts 1959 American television series endings 1950s American sitcoms Television shows set in Los Angeles Television series by CBS Studios Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows Television series by Desilu Productions Television series based on radio series Television series about widowhood